Part 3

The next is an elegant monument of white marble, erected by John Earl of Clare, to the memory of his son Francis Hollis, a youth of great bravery, who, after returning from making a campaign in Flanders, died on the 12th of August 1622, aged eighteen. He is represented clad in Grecian armour, sitting on a Greek altar. A good author mentioning this statue, says, that it expresses more juvenile sweetness and beauty, than any thing of the kind he ever saw, and that if this figure has any fault in character or design, it is being placed in a languid sedentary posture, tho’ cloathed in armour, and described as a hero in his bloom; a more spirited attitude, he observes, would have been more suitable to the person represented, would have given the statuary greater latitude to exert his genius, and afforded more satisfaction to the spectator. The epitaph on this is as follows:

What so thou hast of nature or of arts, Youth, beauty, strength, or what excelling parts Of mind and body, letters, arms, and worth, His eighteen years, beyond his years brought forth; Then stand, and read thyself within this glass, How soon these perish, and thy self may pass; Man’s life is measur’d by the work, not days, No aged sloth, but active youth hath praise.

On an altar, in the same taste, but differently ornamented, sits the statue of the Lady Elizabeth Russel, the daughter of Lord Russel. This statue is of white alabaster, and the Lady is represented in a sleeping posture. Your guides say, that she died with a prick of her finger; but this story has no other foundation, than a misapprehension of the statuary’s design; for having represented her asleep, and pointing with her finger to a death’s head under her right foot, it has been supposed, by the position of her finger pointing downwards, that it was bleeding, and that this had closed her eyes in death; though the artist’s design seems rather to allude to the composed situation of her mind at the approach of death, which she considered only as a profound sleep, from which she was again to wake to a joyful resurrection, of which the motto under her feet, is an evident illustration; _Dormit, non mortua est_; “She is not dead, but sleepeth.” The Latin inscription on the scroll beneath, only tells that this monument was erected to her memory by her afflicted sister Anne. The device is an eagle, the emblem of eternity, resting on a florilege of roses, &c.

Within the iron rails that inclose this last monument, is a magnificent one to the memory of John Lord Russel, son and heir to Francis Earl of Bedford, and of his young son Francis, by Elizabeth the daughter of Sir Anthony Cook, Knt. This monument is of various coloured marble and alabaster, and is adorned with gilding. Lord Russel is represented lying in his robes, with his infant son at his feet. His Lady, who erected this tomb, was esteemed the Sappho of the age, and was not only an excellent poetess, but mistress of the learned languages; and five epitaphs on this tomb are of her composition, three of which are in Latin, one in Greek, and the other in English, which last is here transcribed as a specimen of the rest, that are to the same purpose:

Right noble twice, by virtue, and by birth, Of Heaven lov’d, and honour’d on the earth: His country’s hope, his kindred’s chief delight, My husband dear, more the world’s fair light, Death hath me ’reft. But I from death will take His memory, to whom this tomb I make. John was his name (ah, was!) wretch, must I say; Lord Russel once, now my tear-thirsty clay.

In this chapel is a monument partly enclosed, to the memory of Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury and his Lady, who are represented lying on a black marble table supported by an alabaster pedestal. This monument is adorned with variegated marble finely carved. The inscription contains his titles and character, which is a very noble one, and informs us that he died on the 8th of February 1617, in the fifty-seventh year of his age.

In this chapel are several other monuments, adorned in their ancient manner, with statues lying flat on the backs; and also some other monuments affixed to the walls.

_The Chapel of St. Benedict_, which is that next to the south cross, has a monument erected to the memory of Lionel Cranfield Earl of Middlesex, Lord High Treasurer of England in the reign of King James I. This monument was erected by his relict the Lady Anne, and is of black marble, on which are two statues in a recumbent posture, representing his Lordship lying in his robes, with his Lady. It has a long Latin inscription, representing his various employments and honours, and that he finished his life in a retired leisure, and died on the 6th of August 1645, aged seventy.

On the east side, where stood the altar of St. Benedict, is a monument of various kinds of marble, in memory of Lady Frances Countess of Hertford, who died on the 14th of May 1598, in the forty-fourth year of her age. It is of various kinds of marble, and the Countess is in the old taste represented in her robes, lying with her head resting on an embroidered cushion, and her feet on the back of a lion.

On the south side of this chapel is a table monument of white marble to the memory of George Sprat, the second son of Dr. Sprat, Bishop of Rochester, an infant of a year old.

Near it is the monument of Dr. Gabriel Goodman, the first Dean of this church, who founded an hospital, and instituted a school at Rathven in Denbighshire, where he was born. He was a person of great piety, and was the first who raised the learned Camden from obscurity. He is represented kneeling, in his proper habit. He died in 1601.

_The Tombs in the open parts of the Abbey._

1. At the corner of the last mentioned chapel is a plain neat monument to the memory of Mr. Dryden, adorned with no other ornaments than an elegant bust of that great poet. It was erected by the late Duke of Buckingham, who thought no inscription necessary to transmit the fame of that great poet to posterity; we therefore only see these few words, J. DRYDEN, born 1632, died May 1, 1700, and underneath, John Sheffield Duke of Buckinghamshire erected this monument, 1720.

2. High on a pillar is a neat table monument to the memory of Mrs. Martha Birch, who died in 1723, in the fiftieth year of her age. The inscription also informs us, that she was daughter to Francis Viner, Esq; and was first married to Francis Millington, Esq; and after his death to Peter Birch, Prebendary of this Abbey; and that she was pious, chaste, and prudent.

3. At a small distance is a plain neat monument, to the memory of Abraham Cowley, on which is placed a flaming urn, begirt with a chaplet of laurel; expressive emblems of the glory he acquired by the spirit of his writings. The Latin inscription and epitaph on the pedestal have been thus translated.

Near this place lies ABRAHAM COWLEY, the Pindar, Horace, and Virgil of England; and the delight, ornament, and admiration of this age.

While, sacred bard, far worlds thy works proclaim, And you survive in an immortal fame, Here may you bless’d in pleasing quiet lie, To guard thy urn may hoary Faith stand by; And all thy favourite tuneful Nine repair To watch thy dust with a perpetual care. Sacred for ever may this place be made, And may no desperate hand presume t’ invade With touch unhallow’d, this religious room, Or dare affront thy venerable tomb; Unmov’d and undisturb’d till time shall end. May Cowley’s dust this marble shrine defend.

So wishes, and desires that wish may be sacred to posterity, George Duke of Buckingham, who erected this monument for that incomparable man. He died in the forty-ninth year of his age, and was carried from Buckingham-house, with honourable pomp, his exequies being attended by persons of illustrious characters of all degrees, and interred August 13, 1667.

His grave is just before the monument, as appears by a blue stone, on which is engraved his name.

4. The monument of that ancient poet Geoffery Chaucer, was once a handsome one in the Gothic stile; but is now defaced by time. Chaucer, who is stiled the Father of the English poets, was the son of Sir John Chaucer, a citizen of London, employed by Edward III. in negociations abroad relating to trade. He was first a student at Cambridge; but afterwards studied at Merton College, Oxford; and to perfect himself in the knowledge of the laws, entered himself of the Middle Temple: thus accomplished, he soon became a favourite at court, and was employed as shield-bearer to the King; was a gentleman of the bedchamber, and by Edward III. was sent Embassador abroad. However, in the succeeding reign he fell into disgrace, and was committed to the Tower for high-treason, where he wrote his Testament of Love: but upon the death of Richard II. he became a greater favourite at court than ever, from his having married the great John of Gaunt’s wife’s sister. He was born in 1328, and died in 1400.

5. The plain monument of Mr. John Phillips, has his bust in relief, represented as in an arbour, interwoven with vines, laurel branches, and apple-trees; and over it this motto, _Honos erit huic quoque pomo_, alluding to the high qualities ascribed to the apple, in his excellent poem called _Cyder_. He was author of but few pieces; but those were masterly performances. His Blenheim, Splendid Shilling, and Lyric Ode to Lord Bolingbroke on Tobacco, have been much admired. He was the son of Dr. Stephen Phillips, Archdeacon of Salop, was born at Brampton in Oxfordshire on the 30th of December 1676, and died of a consumption at Hereford, on the 15th of February, 1708, in the prime of his life. The inscription on his monument contains an account of his virtues and abilities, and is the strongest testimony of his merit, since that alone could inspire his great patron Sir Simon Harcourt, Knt. with such a generous friendship for him, as to countenance and encourage him in the amplest manner when living; and to extend his regard for him even after his death, by erecting this monument to his memory.

6. Next this is Mr. Michael Drayton’s monument. This gentleman was esteemed an excellent poet, and learned antiquarian. The inscription and epitaph were formerly in gold letters; but are now almost obliterated, and are as follow:

MICHAEL DRAYTON, Esq; a memorable Poet of his Age, exchanged his Laurel for a Crown of Glory, Anno 1631.

Do, pious marble! let thy Readers know What they, and what their Children owe To Drayton’s Name, whose sacred dust We recommend unto thy trust; Protect his mem’ry and preserve his story; Remain a lasting Monument of his Glory; And when thy Ruins shall disclaim To be the Treasurer of his Name: His Name, that cannot fade, shall be An everlasting Monument to thee.

7. Ben Johnson’s monument is of white marble, and his bust is executed with great happiness and spirit; ’tis inclosed with a tablature ornamented with a few proper and elegant decorations, consisting of emblematical figures: and has no other inscription but the words O RARE BEN JOHNSON! This gentleman was the son of a clergyman, and educated at Westminster school, while Mr. Camden was Master; but after his father’s death, his mother marrying a bricklayer, he was forced from school, and being obliged to work for his father, ’tis said, that at the building of Lincoln’s Inn, he was sometimes seen at work with his trowel in one hand, and Horace in the other. However, Mr. Camden having an esteem for him on account of his abilities, recommended him to Sir Walter Raleigh. He attended that brave man’s son in his travels, and upon his return, entered himself at Cambridge; afterwards he wrote a considerable number of plays; became Poet Laureat to King James I. and died on the 16th of August 1637, aged 63. His tomb was erected by the Earl of Essex, who has inscribed his own name on the stone.

8. Spenser’s tomb is of grey marble, and has suffered greatly by time. It was erected in an age when taste was in its infancy in England, and yet has something in it venerably plain, and not absurdly ornamental. The inscription upon it is as follows:

Here lies (expecting the second coming of our Saviour Christ Jesus) the Body of Edmund Spenser, the Prince of Poets in his time, whose divine Spirit needs no other witness than the works he left behind him. He was born in London in 1510, and died 1596.

9. Above Spenser’s monument is that of Samuel Butler, the author of Hudibrass. By the Latin inscription, it appears, that it was erected by John Barber, Esq; Citizen of London, and afterwards Lord Mayor in 1731, that he who was destitute of all things when alive, might not want a monument when dead. Mr. Butler was born at Shernsham in Worcestershire in 1612, and died at London in 1680.

10. A plain and neat monument of white marble in memory of that divine poet, John Milton, who died in 1674. Under a very elegant bust made by Rysbrack is this inscription:

In the year of our Lord Christ 1737, this bust of the author of _Paradise Lost_ was placed here by William Benson, Esq; one of the two auditors of the imprest to his Majesty, &c.

11. A monument erected to the memory of Thomas Shadwell, is adorned with his bust crowned with a chaplet of bays, an urn, and other decorations. It was erected to his honour by his son Dr. Thomas Shadwell, and the Latin inscription informs us, that he was descended from an ancient family in Staffordshire; was Poet Laureat and Historiographer in the reign of King William, and died November 20, 1692, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. This poet was the author of several plays; but falling under the lash of Mr. Dryden, was satirized by him under the character of Ogg, in the second part of his Absalom and Achitophel.

12. The monument of Matthew Prior, is adorned with great expence. On one side of the pedestal stands the figure of Thalia, one of the Muses, with a flute in her hand; and on the other History, with her book shut; between these statues is Prior’s bust upon a raised altar, and over it is a handsome pediment, on the ascending sides of which are two boys, one with an hour-glass in his hand run out; the other holding a torch reversed. On the apex of the pediment is an urn, and on the base of the monument is a long inscription in Latin, mentioning the public posts and employments with which he had been intrusted; and above we are informed, that while he was writing the history of his own times, death interposed, and broke both the thread of his discourse and of his life, on the 18th of September 1721, in the fifty-seventh year of his age.

13. The monument of St. Evremond is a very plain one, adorned with a bust. The inscription observes, that he was of a noble family in Normandy, and was employed in the army of France, in which he rose to the rank of a Marshal; but returning to Holland, was from thence invited by King Charles II. into England, where he lived in the greatest intimacy with the King and principal nobility; more particularly with the Duchess of Mazarine. He was of a very sprightly turn of humour, as well in his conversation as writings, and lived to the age of ninety, when he was carried off by a fit of the strangury, on the 9th of September 1703.

14. The monument erected to the memory of the immortal Shakespear, a print of which we have here given, is worthy of that great dramatic writer, and both the design and execution are extremely elegant. Upon a handsome pedestal stands his statue in white marble in the habit of the time in which he lived, with one elbow leaning upon some books, and his head reclined upon his hand, in a posture of meditation. The attitude, the dress, the shape, the genteel air, and fine composure observable in this figure of Shakespear, cannot be sufficiently admired, and the beautiful lines of his upon the scroll are happily chosen.

The cloud-cap’d towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself; Yea, all which it inherits, shall dissolve, And like the baseless fabric of a vision, Leave not a wreck behind.

Immediately over his head upon a curious piece of dark-coloured marble, is the following inscription, in capital letters raised in gold:

GULIELMO SHAKESPEAR ANNO POST MORTEM CXXIV. AMOR PUBLICUS POSUIT.

The heads on the pedestal representing Henry V. Richard III. and Queen Elizabeth, three principal characters in his plays, are likewise proper ornaments to grace his tomb. In short, the taste that is here shewn, does honour to those great names under whose direction, by the public favour, it was so elegantly constructed; these were the Earl of Burlington, Dr. Mead, Mr. Pope, and Mr. Martin. It was designed by Kent, and executed by Scheemakers; and the expence defrayed by the grateful contributions of the public.

Mr. Fleetwood, then Master of Drury Lane Theatre, and Mr. Rich of Covent Garden, gave each a benefit, arising from one of his own plays, towards it, and the Dean and Chapter made a present of the ground.

15. The next monument is a very fine one to the memory of Nicholas Rowe, Esq; and his only daughter. On a pedestal about twenty inches high, which stands on an altar, is a fine bust of Mr. Rowe; near it is his Lady in the deepest affliction, and between both, on a pyramid behind, is a medalion, with the head of a young Lady in relief. On the front of the pedestal is this inscription:

To the memory of Nicholas Rowe, Esq; who died in 1718, aged forty-five, and of Charlotte his only daughter, wife of Henry Fane, Esq; who inheriting her father’s spirit, and amiable in her own innocence and beauty, died in the 23d year of her age, 1739.

Underneath upon the front of the altar are these lines:

Thy reliques, Rowe! to this sad shrine we trust, And near thy Shakespear place thy honoured bust. Oh! skill’d, next him, to draw the tender tear, For never heart felt passion more sincere:

To nobler sentiments to fire the brave, For never Briton more disdain’d a slave! Peace to thy gentle shade, and endless rest, Blest in thy genius, in thy love too blest! And blest, that timely from our scene remov’d, Thy soul enjoys that liberty it lov’d.

To these so mourn’d in death, so lov’d in life, The childless Mother, and the widow’d Wife, With tears inscribes this monumental stone, That holds their ashes, and expects her own.

16. Near this last, is a fine monument erected to the memory of Mr. John Gay, by the Duke and Duchess of Queensberry, his great patrons. His bust is a very good one, and the masks, instruments of music, and other devices, are blended together in a group, in allusion to the various species of writings in which he excelled, as farce, satire, fable, and pastoral. The short epitaph in the front, was written by himself, and has given some offence, as the sentiment at first view seems by no means proper for a monument;

Life is a jest, and all things shew it: I thought so once, but now I know it.

Underneath are these lines:

Of manners gentle, of affections mild; In wit, a man; simplicity, a child; With native humour temp’ring virtuous rage, Form’d to delight, at once, and lash the age: Above temptation in a low estate, And uncorrupted, ev’n among the great. A safe companion, and an easy friend; Unblam’d thro’ life, lamented in thy end. These are thy honours; not that here thy bust Is mix’d with Heroes, or with Kings thy dust; But that the Worthy and the Good shall say, Striking their pensive bosoms—Here lies Gay. A. POPE.

Here lie the ashes of Mr. John Gay, the warmest friend, the gentlest companion, the most benevolent man; who maintained independency in low circumstances of fortune; integrity, in the midst of a corrupt age; and that equal serenity of mind, which conscious goodness alone can give, throughout the whole course of his life. Favourite of the Muses, he was led by them to every elegant art, refined in taste, and fraught with graces all his own. In various kinds of poetry, superior to many, inferior to none: his works continue to inspire what his example taught; contempt of folly, however adorned; detestation of vice, however dignified; reverence of virtue, however disgraced.

Charles and Catharine, Duke and Duchess of Queensberry, who loved his person living, and regret him dead, have caused this monument to be erected to his memory.

17. The next is a most magnificent, lofty and elegant monument, erected to the late Duke of Argyle, enclosed with rails, and decorated with figures finely executed. The statue of the Duke is spirited even at the verge of life. On one side of the base is Pallas, and on the other Eloquence; the one looking sorrowfully up at the principal figure above, and the other pathetically displaying the public loss at his death. Above is the figure of History, with one hand holding a book, and with the other writing on a pyramid of most beautiful variegated marble, admirably polished, the name and titles of the Hero in large gold letters, JOHN DUKE OF ARGYLE AND GR. at which point the pen of History rests. His actions are supposed to be contained in the book she holds in her other hand, on the cover of which in letters of gold are inscribed the date of his Grace’s death, and the years of his life. Above is inscribed on this beautiful pyramid in gold letters, the following epitaph, said to be written by Paul Whitehead, Esq;

Britain, behold, if patriot worth be dear, A shrine that claims thy tributary tear: Silent that tongue admiring Senates heard: Nerveless that arm opposing legions fear’d: Nor less, O Campbell! thine the pow’r to please, And give to grandeur all the grace of ease. Long from thy life let kindred heroes trace Arts which ennoble still the noblest race. Others may owe their future fame to me, I borrow immortality from thee.

On the base of the monument is this inscription:

In memory of an honest man, a constant friend, JOHN the Great Duke of Argyle and Greenwich, a General and Orator exceeded by none in the age he lived. Sir Henry Fermer, Baronet, by his last will left the sum of five hundred pounds towards erecting this monument, and recommended the above inscription.